You may find Annette in a couple of different places on a Sunday morning depending on what team she’s serving with. As Campus Coach over the IBCKids ministry, she’s the one praying for volunteers before they ever walk in the door, untangling the schedule, and cheering on team leaders from the sidelines. As a vocalist on the worship team, she’s rehearsing lyrics and helping lead the congregation in worship through singing.
Ask her what she actually does when she serves, and prayer is the first thing she mentions, not the last.
What She Does
As Campus Coach, Annette oversees the team leaders who run IBCKids week to week, but her role touches nearly everything that makes the ministry work. She recruits volunteers, builds schedules, organizes classrooms, and steps in to teach when needed. Just as often, she’s the encourager in the room, the one applauding a team leader after a long morning or reminding a volunteer that what they’re doing matters.
Before any of that, though, she prays. Not just for the kids who show up, but for the ones who haven’t yet.
Her second serving space looks different but comes from the same place. On the worship team, she spends her prep week living with the songs before she ever sings them out loud.
“When I sing them it may be in front of people, but I am worshipping Jesus.”
Annette traces her serving back to a clear prompting from the Holy Spirit.
“I really felt the Holy Spirit calling me to say yes to serving,” she said. “It didn’t feel right to be attending church but not using God-given talents to serve others.”
She put it even more plainly than that.
“You know, washing others’ feet.”
A Moment That Stuck With Her
Annette will tell you the people are her favorite part of serving, a team she describes as diverse but united around one goal. But one moment during a worship rehearsal has stayed with her more than any other.
She was singing her assigned song, working through it like any other rehearsal, when it caught her off guard.
“It touched me so deeply I wept in front of the whole team,” she said.
What she remembers just as clearly is how her team responded. No one made it awkward. No one rushed her past it.
“Everyone was exceptionally cool. Hey, you never know when the Holy Spirit will hit you in the feels.”
How Serving Has Shaped Her
Annette doesn’t talk about her growth in serving without also talking about her past. She’s candid that some of the hardest seasons of her life, the ones that took the longest to make sense of, are the same ones that now shape how she serves.
“I am grateful that God chose to tell me years ago that it wasn’t my time,” she said, “so that I could mature and serve now with so much more grace, poise, and trust in God’s provision.”
That patience shows up in how she talks about gratitude, which is the word she reaches for again and again when she describes what serving has done in her.
On paper, her serving rhythm looks simple: worship once a month, Kids Ministry once a month, both on Sunday mornings. In practice, it’s closer to a daily posture. She’s constantly thinking about her team, checking in with leaders, and looking for ways to encourage the people around her, whether or not it’s her week to serve.
“They probably get tired of hearing from me,” she laughed. “I chose to serve daily in kids ministry.”
Her Advice to You
If you’re on the fence about serving, Annette has a simple answer, and she’s not shy about following it up with an invitation.
“You don’t know what you don’t try,” she said. “Come talk to me about kids ministry! I would love to be your mentor!”